Every colour in the BreakThroughColour deck is 'named' with a 3-digit Colour Code. But it's more than just a number. Left to right, front to back, top to bottom, there's an axis for every ingredient and a 3-way intersection for every colour. In BTC, this XYZ gives each CMY its GPS . . .

Using a scale of 0 to 5, each digit specifies the amount of each of the 3 element primary colours: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, in that order. Just as a trio of X, Y, and Z axis lines define the 3 planes of a 3-dimensional space in geometry, the C, M, and Y values of each Colour Code put that colour in a specific and unique place in the 3-dimensional colour space. The Colour Code is like a GPS for each colour.

A great way to observe the influence of each element primary is to start at any point in the colour space with any Colour Card and travel away from it, up and down the scale of 0 to 5, along all 3 'axis' directions within the colour space. Starting with any single colour, you can follow its flow, front to back, left to right, and top to bottom, simply by changing the values of each of the 3 element primary colours.

For example, let's start with a colour, one of the BTC Base Hues: 205.

With both a 0 (no Black) and a 5 (no White) in the Colour Code, we know this colour is a pure Hue. With the 5 being the third digit (in the Yellow place), and the other 2 digits being less than half, we know this colour is in the Yellow family. And with no Magenta (the middle digit), we know this Hue is a connector between Yellow and Green.

SHIFTING CYAN

Here's where it fits along the Cyan axis, as we shift the value of the Cyan digit up and down to its highest and lowest values:

Yellow has no Cyan at all, Green has it in full. As it shifts from 0 to 5, the other two element primary colours stay the same, with Magenta at 0 and Yellow full at 5.

REMOVING YELLOW

In our starter Hue, 205, there's full strength Yellow. Here's what happens when we decrease that Yellow, from 5 down to 0, without changing the amounts of Cyan (at 2) or Magenta (at 0):

Removing the Yellow, we shift the colour from Hue to Tint, from the Yellow family to the White family.

ADDING MAGENTA

In the above colour flows, along the Cyan axis and the Yellow axis, Magenta remained at 0, so it was not an influencing factor. Shifting the starter Hue along the third and final axis, we add Magenta, taking it from 0 to 5, without changing the amount of Cyan (at 2) or the amount of Yellow (at 5). The starter Hue has no Magenta, but by adding Magenta to a full portion of Yellow, we shift the Hue from the Yellow family into the Red family:

COLOUR LAB

There are 108 6-step colour flows in the BTC 6 x 6 x 6 colour space that shift the colours in straight lines front to back, left to right, and bottom to top. Every colour in the BTC deck has a place in 3 different 6-step colour flows, one along each of the 3 element primary colour axis lines. Start with any colour, and place it within each of its 3 6-step colour flows. This is a great way to become familiar with the varying strengths of each of the element primary colours, as they change your starter colour in each of the 3 different directions.

NEXT 'LEAP' >>

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